


New Girl

by fabulous_but_evil



Series: Hierarchy of Needs [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Episode: s06e10 What Happens At Home, F/M, Families of Choice, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamorous Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Poly, Season/Series 06, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 19:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17290271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulous_but_evil/pseuds/fabulous_but_evil
Summary: Maybe someone like her shouldn't work in this field.That's what they all think, Ashley can /sense/ it.Maybe they're right, she thinks, but brushes it off. There's work to do.





	New Girl

Maybe someone like her shouldn't work in this field.

That's what they all think, Ashley can /sense/ it.

Maybe they're right, she thinks, but brushes it off. There's work to do.

*

/Of course/ someone like her has /daddy issues/.

Maybe that's the reason why she asks Dr. Spencer Reid about her father.

/Of course/ Hotch interrupts them before he can answer.

*

Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi were the men who saved her. They have been her idols ever since. She always wanted to be like them, to prove - to them - that she wasn't anything like her father, that she could be better, and that her family, her past, her trauma didn't define her.

*

Her first - and presumably only - case with Hotch's team doesn't end anything like she expected.

It ends with her nearly dying, it ends with her crying, it ends with Hotch angry at her. She can't help feeling like she disappointed him, in a deep, unforgivable way only children can disappoint their parents.

When Hotch storms off, Dave stays.

They talk, Ashley confesses, and Dave takes her hand.

It's a small, sympathetic gesture that warms her heart.

Dave drives her home that night, and there is no awkward moment in which she asks if he'd like to come inside for a bit. She waves at him in the darkness, unlocks her door and goes straight to bed.


End file.
